1. Figure It Out! Sometimes in life we have to simply figure things out…
When we are younglings our folks do most everything for us. At first this is cute. First feedings and diaper changes, picking out clothes and helping with clean up.
Truthfully though it gets old and eventually we ask our children to take on more responsibility. In the short run this gets messy, because in the process of figuring it out they make a lot mistakes.
We then have two options…intervene or let them figure it out.

2. Matthew 9:9-13 Jesus makes a friend. The friend is a “bad guy”.
Bad guys need friends too.
Jesus is found here in the act of making friends and influencing people.
He comes across to those who misunderstood him as as poor judge of character.
Jesus says. “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous bit sinners.”
In essence Jesus tells them… “Go figure it out.”

3. When I was a kid I grew impatient with the Rubik’s cube
When I was a kid I grew impatient with the Rubik’s cube. It was quite the rage at the time and all I could figure out was was one side. One way.
So….I peeled off all of the stickers and put them back on nice and neat to make it look like I’d solved the puzzle.
A wise person once said that “patience is not granted, it is earned.” I didn’t earn it…and I never did figure out the cube.
Jesus was present for the purpose of people. He came to seek and save the lost (LK 19:10). He was patient with them, he was genuine and he made friends with the messy.
The religious folks in this passage had a hard time with that. The saw the sadness and the effects of sin and they were turned off by it (which isn’t such a bad thing). They took it too far though. They turned away from the sinful to the extent that they had made a barricade (knowingly or not).

4. If you notice darkness growing in the world, don’t be upset with it
If you notice darkness growing in the world, don’t be upset with it. That is simply what darkness does. Instead be a light.
The Pharisees could see the darkness in the world. What they could not figure out was how to be a light.
In Matthew 5:14 Jesus stated, “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither to people light a lamp and put it under a bowl, instead they put it on a stand and it gives light to everyone in the house.”
You see light is supposed to spread and overtake the darkness. Light does not need to accuse darkness of being dark. Light simply needs to shine and darkness is driven out.
Jesus speaks plainly to the religious critics. He tells them to “go and learn the meaning of the words—I desire mercy not sacrifice. Translation…”go figure it out.”

5. Mercy over Sacrifice 1 Samuel 15:22-23 Psalm 40:6-8 Psalm 51:16-19
Jeremiah 7:21-23
Hosea 6:6
Amos 5:21-24
Micah 6:6-8
There is a recurring theme in scripture when it comes to sacrifice and mercy…and that is that mercy is greater.
Aren’t you glad that God is so into mercy? Aren’t you glad that he loves it?
This does not mean that God is obligated in his mercy to never allow anyone to feel struggle. When we understand just how GREAT and MIGHTY God is the fact that we breathe at all can be understood as a gift.
God is described as being rich in mercy. In human form as Christ we see that Jesus was rich in mercy.
His words to the religious people of his day were…”go learn what this means, I desire mercy more than sacrifice.”
We always run the risk of becoming an isolated group. Down on the world and enamored with one another. Surely the contreast is stark and we do enjoy each other. We need each other but we’ve got to be careful…bad guys need friends too.

6. We have to figure it out, just as Jesus called the religious folks of his time to do.
Whether we like to paint ourselves as religious or not, the truth is that we are the religious folks of this day and we have to figure it out. Good news the solution isn’t complicated. We need to love people, make space for them at our dinner tables,
Make room for them in our lives activities and events, make time to meet up with them and share light. And…we need to do this without agenda, be loving, introduce them to your light, reveal its source. If this leads them closer to God, AMEN. If it does not lead them closer to God love them just the same.
Let’s not worry about speed. Remembering that patience is not granted, it is earned.

7. Let’s not see evangelism as a sort of multi-level marketing where we have to get another person or two underneath us in the pyramid in order to grow our church business. Think of it simply as loving people and making friends.
I want to encourage everyone here this morning to make it a point of real focus this month to make a couple of new friends and have them over to your home or out for a coffee or a beer. In time those friends will become our family.